Scenes inside the destruction

Published 12:25 am, Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Part of Route 143 in Westerlo is washed away as a result of flooding Monday Aug. 29, 2011. (Tim O'Brien / Times Union)

Part of Route 143 in Westerlo is washed away as a result of flooding Monday Aug. 29, 2011. (Tim O'Brien / Times Union)

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A bridge by the Fox Creek in Berne is covered with debris and shattered pavement, Monday Aug. 29, 2011. A nearby two-car garage was washed away.

A bridge by the Fox Creek in Berne is covered with debris and shattered pavement, Monday Aug. 29, 2011. A nearby two-car garage was washed away.

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Jim Duggan makes his way back up North St. after checking on his home in the Stockade section of Schenectady as the Mohawk River overflowed its banks flooding homes in this section of the city on Monday, Aug. 29, 2011. Duggan has lived on the street since 1965 and said that he stays there even after numerous floods through the years because of the neighborhood and the people. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) less

Jim Duggan makes his way back up North St. after checking on his home in the Stockade section of Schenectady as the Mohawk River overflowed its banks flooding homes in this section of the city on Monday, Aug. ... more

Home owners along Truax Lane in Berne found a creek they normally could barely see suddenly surrounding their homes, Monday Aug. 29, 2011. (Tim O'Brien / Times Union)

Home owners along Truax Lane in Berne found a creek they normally could barely see suddenly surrounding their homes, Monday Aug. 29, 2011. (Tim O'Brien / Times Union)

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Don Dewey of Berne normally cannot see Fox Creek from his backyard. Now the creek separates him from his red lawn tractor , Monday Aug. 29, 2011. (Tim O'Brien / Times Union)

Don Dewey of Berne normally cannot see Fox Creek from his backyard. Now the creek separates him from his red lawn tractor , Monday Aug. 29, 2011. (Tim O'Brien / Times Union)

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Doug Watson is carried off a boat by Andy Yuhasz, left, with the Schonowe Fire Company and Daniel Biddle, a resident who stayed to help others evacuate in Rotterdam Junction on Monday, Aug. 29, 2011. Rotterdam Junction residents were evacuated by boat carrying them across a flooded section of Route 5s. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) less

Doug Watson is carried off a boat by Andy Yuhasz, left, with the Schonowe Fire Company and Daniel Biddle, a resident who stayed to help others evacuate in Rotterdam Junction on Monday, Aug. 29, 2011. Rotterdam ... more

Photo: Paul Buckowski

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Scenes inside the destruction

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Sunday's tropical storm washed away homes, devastated a 200-year-old mill and kept firefighters busy rescuing stranded motorists and residents. But Irene also brought neighbors together as they comforted and aided each other in the face of nature's fury. Here is a sampling of those stories:

Governor's Lane resident Pete Hornby watched as the Mohawk River water lapped at the stairs of his two homes Monday afternoon in Schenectady's Stockade. But he shrugged off any real worry about the buildings or his belongings.

"What are you going to do?" said the 85-year-old, who has seen such flooding before.

One of Hornby's tenants waded waist-deep into the water to reach his apartment on the second floor. He went inside, changed and sat on the porch reading a book.

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Ed Knee of Glenville was one of hundreds of people in Scotia standing on the Western Gateway bridge or around what was left of Collins Park as the Mohawk River engulfed Jumpin' Jack's Drive-In and the park. "Just Friday, we were biking down here," Knee said, his camera hanging around his neck, "now it's under 5 feet of water."

On North Street in Schenectady's Stockade section, retiree Darlene Duggan, 68, passed the time schmoozing with her neighbors, talking numbers: "226 (feet) will flood our house and it's already past that," she said. She has lived on 18 North St. with her husband, James, since 1965.

"We don't freak out because there is nothing you can do, so we do what we have to," she said.

Nearby, a man stripped down to his boxers and hoisted his wife onto his shoulders before carefully wading up North Street until he reached the couple's residence amid waist-high water.

On another part of Route 5S near Rynex Corner Road in neighboring Princetown, David McKeon consoled his wife, Kathie, in the parking lot of their carpet business, not far from their waterlogged log house on Elm Street.

"Our whole basement, all my grandchildren's toys, the lawn mower, the barbecue, all those things are gone, but God is good and I know he'll provide."

The Dyer family lost their home at 3 Franklin Drive in Poestenkill when water from the Poesten Kill rushed over its embankment, forcing them to leave, Jennifer Roberts of Cohoes said.

Roberts' sister, Deborah Dyer; her husband, Daniel; and mother-in-law, Donna, were routed from the destroyed home, Roberts said. "Everything is gone. All they have left is what they have in their car," she said.

The swing set from David Atkinson's backyard on Route 312 in Westerlo was picked up and carried across the street to the yard of his business.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," he said. "The water was a foot to a foot-and-a-half deep over the road. It was rushing against the front door of my office."

A channel was dug out by the raging Hannacrois Creek, preventing Atkinson from entering his design construction office in a former schoolhouse.

The water had mostly receded by Monday, leaving mud-stained homes and brush. "It did a lot of damage," said George Jackson, 64, of Miller Road, one of three evacuees in the shelter Monday.

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Troy was inundated. Tied up alongside the restaurant was the Cortina, out of the Cayman Islands.

"We came from New York City to escape Irene," said Capt. Nick Murphy, standing on the bow with first mate John Bregy.

The Hudson River had risen so high that the yacht and the Troy city docks were floating above the wrought-iron fence that separated the restaurant from the river.

The flooding in downtown Troy drew scores of onlookers. Early Monday, a dock broke away from the marina in Green Island and sailed downstream with five motorboats still tied to it.

"It was terrible. It made me think of the power of the water," said Mindy McDaniel. She watched the event from her River Street apartment.

Kevin Shufelt, owner of the Rusty Anchor in Troy, watched as a tugboat steadied his floating restaurant against the rushing flood waters. Standing on the Congress Street Bridge, Shufelt said the interior appeared fine, but he was concerned about exterior damage.

Sue Hawkes-Teeter has lived alongside Fox Creek in Berne for almost 30 years. Until Sunday, there was a two-bay garage next to her house.

"We've never had a bit of water in the basement from the stream," she said. "It started to come apart in the early afternoon."

Hawkes-Teeter said she was grateful at the outpouring of support from other town residents.

"It's the nice thing about living in a small community where you know everybody," she said. "People have been cleaning my floors. They've offered us dinner."

Flooding opened a vast hole around and beside the 200-year-old Old Berne Mill. An office connected to the mill lay tilted into a 20-foot crater. Two parking bays on the side dangled in midair as residents ventured up to shake their heads and take photos.

The mill housed an Agway store run by Steve and Sue Lendrum.

"They were always there whenever you needed anything, always helping," said Mary Bushnell.

Berne Fire Chief Richard Guilz was looking at severe flooding on the Helderberg Trail near County Route 14 when he realized someone was in a house. Firefighters used ropes to rescue the woman from the second floor.

"I think she didn't know what to do," he said.

Firefighters also rescued people in six cars who got caught in the water from Fox Creek. "People drove into deep water and couldn't get out," he said. "We were very lucky to have no fatalities."

Don Dewey usually cannot see Fox Creek from his Truax Lane backyard. Now it's in his backyard.

Dewey's lawn tractor was on the other side of what was still a fast-moving stream.

Paul Giebitz keeps a small airfield near his home of 55 years in Berne for his Skyhawk 173 single-engine plane. Next to it he has a collection of Army vehicles.

All were submerged.

His wife, Eleanor, said she is not sure if the plane will still work.

"We've been out of power here for 15 hours," cashier Kylee Galusha said Monday afternoon at the Countryside Mobil in Berne. "We have to give away frozen food, the ice cream and milk."